Friday, February 17, 2017

Academy Members’ Legacy Gallery Plaques

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Los Angeles was the opportunity to see a series of 12 bronze plaques which list over 1,000 Academy members from the 1990’s who donated to the endowment campaign for the Academy’s Center for Motion Picture Study.

Originally located on the second floor lobby of the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, they were later moved to the Margaret Herrick Library’s outdoor portico gallery, an area that often hosts special events for members, and hence an area where they have a chance to view the plaques.

Linda Harris Mehr, the library’s director, was kind enough to show me the plaques on February 9, 2017. She asked me not to take pictures, but since it is outside I was able to come back over the weekend to write down all of the names by hand.

A title plaque reads: “The Academy Members’ Legacy Gallery: In recognition and appreciation of those Academy Members who, in celebration of the first centennial of motion picture history, acted to preserve that history for the centuries to follow.”

The names appear alphabetically in two groups that represent the year that they gave their donation: 1989-1992, and 1993-1998.

Unlike other lists of donors, this one consists of Academy members ONLY, and happens to come from an era when printed membership lists are difficult to find.